Electronic cigarettes are all the rage these days and on of the biggest selling points of these trending devices is the fact that they offer a healthy alternative to real cigarettes. It's well known that tobacco is incredibly bad for you. It leads to cancer and many other horrible diseases. It is also the leading cause of preventable deaths in the world. And even if cigarettes didn't cause cancer and disease they are still the antithesis of a healthy lifestyle. They litter your lungs with tar making it difficult to breathe in the life force that is oxygen.

This is where electronic cigarettes come into play (also known as e-cigs). With e-cigs you aren't inhaling tobacco or any of its byproducts but instead a liquid solution as vapor with only a few ingredients. Cigarettes contain thousands of chemicals while e-cigs contain a mere few ingredients. None of the ingredients are cancer causing as well. The real question is: are they really healthy? Is there anything inherently wrong with them?

The first thing to consider is the vapor that you are inhaling with each drag of an electronic cigarette. While you aren't inhaling smoke you are still inhaling something. What this means is that you are adding something for your lungs to absorb that isn't air. It makes sense that you may not breathe as easily if you are competing with the oxygen that we need to live. However, many users of electronic cigarettes report that they can breathe much easier using this device than they ever could when smoking tobacco. Some individuals report some wheezing or a loss in aerobic ability after using an e-cig but overall it doesn't seem to be a huge issue. The smart way to go about things would be to avoid using an e-cig before exercising or doing something that requires a lot of breathing (manual labor for instance).

Breathing in vapor via an electronic cigarette is worse for your breathing than breathing in pure oxygen (no cigarettes or e-cig vapor) but it is much better than breathing in tobacco smoke. The trade of is very much worth it if the testimonies of thousands of ex-smokers is anything to consider.

Next up is nicotine. Nicotine is the drug in cigarettes that gives users the desired effect and keeps them coming back for more. This substance is found in electronic cigarette liquid so users will still be addicted but not on the same level as conventional smokers. The reason for this is because tobacco contains different chemicals that actually makes nicotine more powerful, more rewarding, and more addictive. When you use an e-cig you are only consuming nicotine. You are not consuming anything else. For this reason a lot of people that use these popular devices report that the effects feel different than smoking a regular cigarette.

Nicotine is also the reason why e-cigs can be a much healthier alternative than cigarettes. Nicotine in and of itself has very few downsides. There are a few health risks associated with it but it is not cancer causing and it does not cause any type of disease. In fact, nicotine has a few benefits and it is even brain enhancing. Many people actually use nicotine for these effects. The reason why this substance tips the scale in favor of e-cigs is because of the fact that you can use liquid for e-cigs that use no nicotine at all. That's right, vapor without any drug at all. Furthermore, you can choose the level of nicotine you want to use for your e-cig so that you can effectively taper all the way down to a level of juice that has 0 nicotine. Tapering is a very effective method for getting off traditional narcotics and is something that is nearly impossible with conventional cigarettes because of their nature...but not with e-cigs. If an individual decides that they don't want to be addicted to this drug anymore then they can taper off of it by stepping down the nicotine levels as well as diluting the liquid.

The verdict

While there is some propaganda floating about that claims e-cigs are dangerous there are actually very few downsides to them. Yes, they do contain nicotine but there are ways to use these devices without consuming any nicotine at all. And it's not the nicotine that causes cancer and disease it's the tobacco in cigarettes and all of the chemicals found within that cause major health problems and death. You shouldn't start using these devices if you aren't already a smoker but if you do currently smoke cigarettes they are definitely worth considering as an alternative. You'll have clearer lungs and breathe easier, your blood pressure will normalize, you will decrease your risk of cancer and disease, and you can even taper off of nicotine all together if addiction isn't your thing.